I remember playing a PBM (really... by mail... that long ago) that was similar... only on a big hex grid instead. The mages cast spells, and gained power from controlling the hexes. This was a reminder of that game when I saw it... so it had fond memories going for it.

What I like about Mage Wars is three-fold: 1) The strategy involved... the movement around the arena, and the flexibility in how you use your resources, 2) The similarities to chess as a game, of which I am a big fan, and 3) The fantasy setting, which I enjoy as well.

My interest is kept in place by not having "killer" spells that can take out one's entire opposition (though some of the recent ones have started to come close... Tsunami and Pillar of Righteous Flame immediately come to mind).

My favorite part of Mage Wars is being able to play mind games and predict my opponents move.There is no better feeling than directly countering your opponents play by correctly reading them and the board state and prepping accordingly.

The sheer amount of freedom to customize the game to play it however I want. I actually think of Mage Wars as a tabletop fantasy combat system rather than an individual game by itself for that reason. It's also why I really wish there were a lot more people playing this game. Most people play only vanilla of any particular game, and Mage Wars has SO MUCH potential for customization of strategies and formats that is largely untapped and probably always will be, judging by the fact that the game is 5 years old and there is basically no competitive 2v2 meta that I've heard of. Or domination for that matter.

« Last Edit: January 06, 2018, 06:26:50 PM by Sailor Vulcan »

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Favourite Mage: Salenia Forcemaster

I am Sailor Vulcan! Champion of justice and reason! And yes, I am already aware my uniform is considered flashy, unprofessional, and borderline sexually provocative for my species by most intelligent lifeforms. I did not choose this outfit. Shut up.

I like the fact that they have strong female characters that play as hard as the male characters. The Forcemaster is the equal of any other mage in hand-to-combat, especially with the introduction of Academy, and the Priestess is still arguably the hardest mage to kill in Mage Wars. It is one of the reasons why I think a Mage Wars video game would be so successful because girls and women would have strong female characters that they could identify with.

The pure genius of Mage Wars is the removal of the Draw mechanic. All of a sudden you have unrestricted access to the spell that you put in your book to deal with that other spell your opponent put in his book. No hoping for enough land, no hoping for enough removal no hoping for enough pressure no need to draw more cards.

Which, incidentally, is one of the major selling points of Academy to me. No planning phase. Go and grab your reaction card instantly.

I like the fact that they have strong female characters that play as hard as the male characters. The Forcemaster is the equal of any other mage in hand-to-combat, especially with the introduction of Academy, and the Priestess is still arguably the hardest mage to kill in Mage Wars. It is one of the reasons why I think a Mage Wars video game would be so successful because girls and women would have strong female characters that they could identify with.

Is this what you like most about Mage Wars?Your reason to play this game?